This invention relates generally to guns and more particularly to shotguns.
Shotguns are conventionally provided with barrels of various lengths to allow for optimum use for a particular type of shooting. A longer barrel improves the sight plain and therefore provides greated accuracy and is more useful for certain kinds of game hunting, for example, than a similar gun with a shorter barrel. For other types of hunting, for example for use in hunting upland game, guns having a shorter barrel perform well and are frequently preferred for general use. Further, the use of chokes, which control the shot pattern, can be employed to modify a given gun making it adaptable for different purposes.
In recent years sporting clay shooting, in all its variations, has become very popular with many competitions being held throughout the country. A person having a shotgun with a long barrel at certain stations of a course has an advantage in such competitions over one having a shorter barrel. That is, with a longer barrel the front sight adjacent the discharge end of the barrel is further removed from the rear sight. This provides an improved sight picture compared to shorter barrels and therefore results in more accurate shooting. At other stations a fast response is more important so that a shorter barrel is preferred. In addition to sporting clay shooting, trap and skeet shooting maintain their popularity. While longer barrels are preferred for trap shooting, shorter barrels are preferred for skeet shooting. The result is that people are faced with the dilemma that if they want to optimize their performance for different types of shooting they are required to buy several guns having barrels of different lengths, however, this becomes very expensive and, from a practical viewpoint, an unavailable option for many people.
It is as object of the present invention to provide apparatus which overcomes the above noted prior art limitations.